“Absolute return” elite from around globe meet at un-named event…

Alpha Male is in Boston this week at a hedge fund conference with a strict “no media” policy. As a result, it’s an event so secret, I couldn’t possibly speak its name. But I have been authorized to say this: it’s in Boston and speakers include Harry Markowitz, Myron Scholes (a good Canadian kid), Benoit Mandelbrot (inventor of fractal geometry and one of Eugene Fama’s former professors), Mark Anson (formerly a bigwig at CalPERS), hedge fund researcher David Hsieh, Professor Harry Kat, and Morgan Stanley’s Marty Leibowitz. In need of a talking head whose intellect certainly won’t make anyone here feel inadequate, organizers have also asked Alpha Male to be master of ceremonies for a small portion of the event.

It’s a gathering of several hundred investment managers and major pension plans (known as “allocators” in the parlance of the industry). So in order to encourage a frank and honest exchange, organizers have quite rightly put the kybosh on any “quotes from the floor” segments on AllAboutAlpha.com. Still, we hope to provide a high-level sketch of the major themes being discussed here and I’m sure we’ll revisit some of them in the weeks to come.

This is our second year covering the event. You may recall last year’s edition fromthesepostings.

Great Post. Thank you for all the insight. I think the widely varying positions on alternative alpha vs. beta and the overcrowding of the hedge fund industry and the effect it has on alpha is always interesting to hear from experts in the industry.

I live in Cambridge and work in Boston/Lexington. Let me know if you want me to bring you a redbull on Friday.